Recently, a type of mobile device which functions as a mail client capable of sending and receiving e-mails has come into widespread use. This type of mobile device runs a mailer to perform the following processes.
First, when a mail server receives an e-mail to be sent to a mobile device, the server temporarily stores the e-mail in a storage area commonly referred to as “a mail box”. The server then calls the destination mobile device via a mobile communication network. In response to the call from the server, the mobile device executes a mailer and transmits a response to the call. When the mail server receives the response from the mobile device, it reads the e-mail from the mail box and sends the e-mail to the mobile device via the mobile communication network. The mobile device stores the received e-mail in a non-volatile memory by using a function of the mailer; and in response to a user's instruction, the mobile device opens and displays the e-mail.
In recent years, an increasing number of junk e-mails sent from unknown third-parties for advertising purposes has become a serious problem for mobile device users. The problem is compounded by the fact that mobile device users are obliged to pay communication charges for receiving such e-mails. This problem is caused by the current delivery system in which, when a mobile device responds to a call from a mobile communication network (that is to say, when a mobile device is located in a service area of a mobile communication network), an e-mail is automatically delivered to a mobile device without the consent of a user.
The above problem may be solved using the method described below.
A mail server displays to a user only attribute information of each e-mail, without the body of the message (e.g. the title or the sender of each e-mail) in a list format listing e-mails stored in a mail box. Referring to the list, the user selects only e-mails that he/she desires to receive and the user's mobile device notifies the selection to the mail server. In response to the selection, the mail server sends to a mobile device only those e-mails selected by the user; thus, a user is able to acquire only desired e-mails.
To use the above-described method, many types of mobile devices are provided with a program suitable for browsing documents (hereinafter referred to as a “browser”). By this configuration, a mobile device is not required to install a program for viewing a list in a memory, which is advantageous from a view of development costs of mobile devices or the efficient use of a memory.
However, currently available browsers display only image data on the basis of data received from outside. This implies that when an e-mail is converted into HTML data and a mobile device receives the data, the mobile device is able to display HTML data in a browser, but the device cannot determine whether the HTML data is an e-mail. In other words, a mobile device is able to interpret and display received HTML data on a screen, but the mobile device can not identify whether received HTML data was originally an e-mail, nor can it store the selected data in a nonvolatile memory as an e-mail. Therefore, user operations including designation of a storing location or a filename and input of a storing command are necessary when storing the received HTML data as email in a non-volatile memory. As explained above, a browser facilitates the process of browsing a list and receiving and displaying e-mails; however, a problem exists that a browser is not capable of efficiently storing received e-mails in a nonvolatile memory.
The present invention has been presented in view of the above background, and has as its object the provision of a mechanism for delivering e-mails from a mail server to a mail-client, and having the mail client store e-mails by using a document browsing program (e.g. a browser in a mail client) and an e-mail processing program for processing e-mails.